lington Florida Real Estate News: Chinese Drywall- If You Have Chinese Drywall There May Be Help on the way.
I wrote a detailed post about Chinese Drywall Claims May Get Your Insurance Canceled and since then there have been lawmakers here in Florida and other states plagued with Chinese drywall working on some solutions.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development will issue some guidelines for homeowners who have Chinese drywall to follow in order to apply for federal money. Senator Bill Nelson (D) has been one of the supporters of getting relief to homeowners here in Florida. While I don't agree with him on most issues- this is one of the issues that I do feel needs to be addressed by HUD because it was the Federal Government who supports buying products made in China. Since we can't sue the companies in China for sending this horror of a material someone has to be held accountable. The builders and developers who used this drywall have mostly all filed bankruptcy and are no longer in business. The builders that are still here are doing a lot to help the homeowners who are living in homes that they sold that have the chinese drywall. In fact, some builders are paying for the homeowners to temporarily move out of their homes, paying for their expenses and helping them as they remove all the chinese drywall and replace it.
The HUD secretary came to Florida to see some of the damage we are talking about. It is hard to understand the extent of this awful drywall as it can destroy the plumbing, the foundation and lead to serious health problems. We had one family that was buying one of our short sale listings. They owned one of the homes with the Chinese Drywall. They had two children who were getting sick. It was from the sulfuric gas that the chinese drywall leaks and these poor kids were so sick that they had to move into a hotel until we could get the short sale approved. It was because of the health of these children that WAMU (now Chase) worked very quickly to get the short sale approved so these little children could be in a home again.
HUD said that homeowners may be able to get help through the Community Development Block Grant program. But the problem, as usual, with government programs, is that that person saying that you may get help from a program doesn't even know if that is truly the case or not. Well, this was not the case because the Block Grant program is for poverty areas and low income people. Most of the home that have the chinese drywall are middle class to high end homes. Most of the people affected are people who are not poor. But the Cbinese drywall can certainly land any middle income earner into the poor house because you have to basically gut your entire house to get at the drywall and underlying problems it causes.
So now the HUD secretary sent Senator Nelson a letter saying that they are working with the guidelines so that these homeowners can get assistance to repair their homes.
Here are some photos from the Florida Health Department. The first photo is the black corrosion that is caused by Chinese Drywall the other corrosions are not black and are normal corrosion of copper, wires, etc. Please seek out the advice of a licensed contractor if you suspect your home to contain Chinese drywall. The easiest way to tell is to check the back of piece of drywall. If it says, MADE IN CHINA- you have Chinese drywall:
The Federal Government has received over 2,276 complaints from homeowners and more than two thirds of them are from Florida. I am sure that more are affected that don't even know they are and more still that have not filed complaints.
For information about Florida Short Sales- click here.
To view Florida Short Sales- Click here. We know Palm Beach County Short Sales and Port St Lucie Florida Short Sales and will help you get your home Sold if you need to Sell your home and help you buy your home in Palm Beach County Florida: Call us today.
Wellington Florida Real Estate News-Chinese Drywall- If You Have Chinese Drywall There May Be Help was first published on South- Florida-Luxury-Living.com.
Copyright © 2009 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.* Wellington Florida Real Estate News-Chinese Drywall- If You Have Chinese Drywall There May Be Help*
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